Wayfair inclusion of product weight could be damaging esteem of children trafficked inside furniture

Read the letter from Wayfair addressing public concern

Full Letter:

We talk about body positivity, We throw that phrase around. But Wayfair takes that seriously.

That's why Wayfair is committed to protecting the self-esteem of trafficked children. Self-esteem issues are damaging to young persons development. Suicide is the number one killer of teens. We at Wayfair are aware of the misconceptions about our furniture business and the unfounded conspiratorial internet rumor that we will not repeat here.

However, we're ashamed to learn of a study which did correlate signs of low self-esteem to children being trafficked inside Wayfair furniture. On the outside of the box, the combined weight of the child and furniture was printed (this is to avoid issues in customs).

This was found to be damaging to a child's self worth. As a family company, protecting our children is our number one priority. Our furniture is safe for traveling and has security locks on the outside. But it's not only unsecured bookshelves and TV consoles without airholes that can kill your children... so can fatshaming.

Boxes that make children feel obese are not slay. At the same time, we still need to include an accurate weight. So we had to come to a crossroads: do we risk children being discovered during customs checks or do we stop trafficking children?

Now, this would be a problem if Wayfair trafficked children. But we don't.

What's that? That box says "CHILDREN" in it? Haha, no it doesn't. It says "CHILDREN'S TOYS"! See that, haha? You missed the 'S' and the "TOYS" right there. Great laugh.

That's all. So yes, if you tell a kid his real weight plus the weight of a medium wardrobe, his feelings will be hurt. But that's a weird hypothetical. I really don't know why you brought that up. Hypothetically, we would make sure we don't hurt any kids feelings if we trafficked them. I feel like anyone would say the same thing.

- Wayfair PR